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They call it Stormy Monday

A man makes his was through the rain as flooding caused by record storms wrecks havoc in Toronto Monday. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Sat., July 13, 2013

Four billion dollars you say. Just to recover from a half-century rain storm. In a major city where the money allotted for infrastructure can’t supply adequate storm sewers? A city that increases in size of an amount equal to Calgary every decade?

Torontonians voted in a guy who refused to raise taxes and everyone stares at the damage and wonders who is responsible. Well, that’s easy. It’s the taxpayers that are responsible. They bought into the rightist propaganda that low taxes are a good thing when any grade school kid could see it realistically.

It costs money to operate the fastest growing city in Canada and of course the infrastructure needs a top-up as the city expands. If we yield to the right-wing kind of thinking that comforts only millionaires, we at the other end of the scale will naturally suffer the pains of diminished services, crippled lifestyle, and a bankrupt environment.

I have paid taxes for some 60-plus years and, for the first 30, I have never regretted one cent of it because I was getting a good bang for my buck. Only when self-serving politicians decided that lower taxation was a vote-getter did I begin to see services disintegrate. I watched in disbelief as the gullible public praised these frugal lords as they stood by and wondered why things were not so good any more.

Wake up Toronto. There is no free lunch. That $4 billion could have gone a long way to save all this if it had just been invested properly in the first place. Now we all pay for a clean-up that is wasteful and regressive.

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If you want to create a world-class city for your grandchildren, you better be willing to fork over the dough because it just ain’t going to happen any other way.

Robert Wright, Fenelon Falls

It’s pretty ironic that Mayor Rob Ford cites years of neglected infrastructure while championing lower taxes, often by chopping maintenance budgets or giving back millions to motorists who are a part of our problems.

Going beyond the immense contribution of daily driving to climate change and severe events, surely it is the vast quantities of hard road and parking surfaces that make overloaded sewers commonplace.

While some councillors may get this point of needing to disconnect paving surfaces and reduce the overall immensity of surface area, if biking issues serve as a template, the suburban majority will be in steadfast denial and vote down any initiative that creates friction or maybe even guilt amongst their constituents.

There remains a strong need to get our heads out of the collective tailpipes of automobility and look at excessive car dependence and all of its costs, including such extreme events as we’ve just had.

Hamish Wilson, Toronto

Of all the potential “human interest stories” angles the Star could have chosen for its front page splash, the one that won the editors’ hearts and minds was a smiling, seems to be almost embarrassed (or is it smug) Ferrari owner, with his car semi-submerged in the deluge’s resultant flood.

How pathetic.

One can only imagine the chase to capture this story.

What the heck, damn the after-effects of the train wreck in Lac-Megantic, Que., the strife in Egypt or for that matter, thousands of other serious stories about the fall out of the storm. Let’s use half the front page on a Ferrari and its owner.

Well, at least it spared us a new Mayor Ford expose.

Ian Medad, Toronto

No front page or even middle-page coverage of the severe damage caused by the roaring Mimico Creek. Unbelievable but not one photo.

You show a Ferrari under water and seem make light of all of this. We have still not had one minute of power but everyone seems to be patting each other on the back for a job well done. Prices keep going up for Hydro and yet this how prepared they are.

Claude Burul, Toronto

Due to floods, fires, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, and extreme heat, the world today, no longer has the ability to sustain life.

Don’t be alarmed, the experts, including senior climatologist Dave (what me worry) Phillips, big oil, corporate apologists and Stephen Harper, all agree it has nothing to do with climate change or global warming.

Howard Weeks, Windsor

Many in the city are dealing with clean-up following Monday’s storm, and many more are grateful to have escaped relatively unscathed. But there are many in south Etobicoke still in the dark, sweating through the heat and humidity, while food rots in their fridges.

My parents, 89 and 90 years old, are among them; stranded with their caregiver on an upper floor of a very nice, and very tall apartment building in the Old Mill area. This particular building is predominantly populated with seniors — many in their 80s and 90s. The only back-up plan that I know of was a generator to power emergency lighting in the stairwells where many residents are not capable of venturing on their best days. This generator failed after 29 hours.

Despite rents at the higher end of the scale, the building is apparently not required by law to provide any back-up power. It seems that common sense and compassion do not play a role, despite the demography of the residents.

Is this the kind of city we live in? Where aging infrastructure is jeopardizing the safety of the vulnerable? Where any useful information on restoration of power is not accessible? Where Hydro One and Hydro Toronto each blame the other? And where private companies do as little as they can get away with in emergency situation?

My parents are understandably anxious, but are reassured by the appearance of family members able to make the climb to visit and bring meals. What about the residents who don’t have family nearby?

Ruth Klostermann, Toronto

As a resident of Etobicoke, which has been the hardest hit by the power outage in Toronto, I would like to mention that Mayor Rob Ford just does not get it.

Tuesday he went on a tour of the electricity facilities to better understand the problems of the grid. As mayor, why does he not have a grasp of our city’s electrical grid already?

On Wednesday he was apparently talking about building an infrastructure for the Pan Am Games which are scheduled to take place in Toronto in 2015. What part of understanding that Toronto is in no shape to handle these games does Ford not understand?

We in Toronto live with an aging crumbling infrastructure, which he does not see the need to have fixed/upgraded but is prepared to spend money for bread and circuses like the ancient Romans.

Mayor Ford should be renamed Emperor Nero.

Patricia Daly, Toronto

Toronto copes well with its historic deluge, Editorial July 10

Yes, it is a credit to the GTA that this unprecedented deluge was rather well managed by city workers, TTC, GO, hydro crews, police, firefighters, emergency teams and regular citizens — and we were back to normal by Tuesday morning.

Let us however take this opportunity to review this “act of God” and consider if there are any key learnings for the future.

Perhaps it was not entirely an “act of God”? Could this have been linked more closely to global warming and all of us can resolve to do something personally and collectively — before getting to the inevitable tipping point?

Balancing the need for economic developing with environmental protection is not an easy task at any time and more so now. However, we cannot be complacent, look the other way around and point fingers when we come face to face with the ravages caused by climate change.

Do we act responsibly today or wait leisurely on the sidelines for the next “act of God” and wonder what happened and why?

Rudy Fernandes, Mississauga

The Star, in its long editorial, has praised the city for handling the catastrophes caused by one of the worst floods in its history. However, the newspaper has not a good word to say about its head, the Mayor Rob Ford! What a shame?

Venkatadri Seshadri, Markham

Cartoon idea: Rob Ford floating, facing up, with a sail on his belly. On him are a handful of smaller Toronto residents, hanging on for safety.

Since the storm on Monday, I have heard people call this storm a “once in a 100 year storm” and say things like the city is “unlikely” to see a storm of this magnitude for a while. I disagree.

It was almost one year ago that the residents of the Birchcliff and Cliffcrest area of Scarborough experienced serious flooding and considerable damage to their houses as a result of 88 mm of rain that fell in one hour on July 15, 2012. Of course, 88 mm is not as significant as the 120+mm that fell on the west end on Monday but I think many people are being given erroneous messages to make the situation more manageable.

Seeing the news this week is like deja-vous. We experience the drain back ups, the sewage and the copious dealings with the City of Toronto and insurance companies. The aftermath of this storm has impacted the neighbourhood in many ways and the fallout of that storm is still being felt by many residents.

I feel the city of Toronto has to recognize that the increased opportunity for these storms is real and that they need to seriously look at our aging infrastructure more closely. Words can only calm residents so much, we need honest, timely communication and updates to believe that progress is happening. My heart goes out to all of those affected by the storm this week.

Cathy Baillie, Scarborough

It’s clear that the city owes a huge debt of gratitude to all those who toiled to deal with the effects of an incredibly rare event — a torrential storm beyond the capacity of the city’s infrastructure. The police, the firefighters, EMS personnel, TTC personnel, city maintenance crew and many others worked long and hard to literally dig the city out. Many of us were inconvenienced, but it would have been far worse and lasted far longer if not for their efforts.

Marv Gold, Toronto

I write this to the Star because there are few, if any?, newspapers who will have the courage to print it.

All across the nation over the last year there have been all sorts of ‘Extreme Climate Events’. But the most recent - the floods in Calgary & southern Alberta, and now the Toronto flood are being reported while the media refuses to connect the dots. They are all connected to Climate Change, which is again directly connected with Steven Harper’s suicidal economic policies based on a last century understanding of both Energy (oil) and Climate.

While Canada, our Climate, our health and safety and our food security are all being traded for profits in the international oil industry, Germany has ‘gone green’, has converted from an economy dependant on oil to an economy with the greatest resources of green renewable energy in the world, and at the same time become the strongest economy in Europe..

Now the obvious dangers of transporting oil, be it by pipeline or rail (Lac Megantic) is getting high profile coverage, while again every reporter and media organization shakes in fear of confronting the Servant of Oil, the tyrant who is dismantling our democracy to further be able to destroy this country, its health, safety and civilization in service of filthy oil profits. Just how many of these disasters can we afford before Harper is stopped? Just how long is the media going to wait for some child to voice the obvious… The Emperor has no clothes, and his concept of The Economy will destroy the planet!

Shane Nestruck, Winnipeg

So, the future is heavy rains in short periods — a preview from nature — short powerful rains will intensify, fewer but more extreme rainstorms, rainfall expected in any single day or hour will more than double. This is happening now. And this isn’t climate change?

Taxpayers will pay for the damage and repair — if there is any money to do this. Insurance policies will be slashed and premiums will skyrocket.

There were 484 meetings with Republicans, Tea partiers and Democrats, a week ago in Washington, which showed me that want to do something. They were told about a revenue-neutral carbon tax where a fee would be imposed on fossil fuel as it comes out of the ground. I would then be distributed equally among households(nothing to government), meaning that around 2/3 would be receiving more than what was paid in increased prices.

Let the talk be about a solution. Let it be about curbing the damaging storms of climate change.

Sharon Howarth, Toronto

The Star’s environment reporter writes of Toronto’s wettest moment: “No, experts say, it wasn’t because of climate change.” Which experts?

Scientists are reticent about linking specific weather events but are saying that climate change substantially increases the likelihood of extreme weather, namely the proliferation of record-breaking “100-year events” certainly since 1990.

On July 3 the World Meteorological Organization (UN) issued its media release, “A Decade of Climate Extremes, 2001-2010,” still unreported by the worldwide media. One startling finding is the rate of temperature increase: while the average rate is 0.062°C per decade for the entire 1880-2010 period, 1991-2000 saw a rise of +0.14C, and 2001-2010 registered a rise in average temperature of 0.21°C.

The choice is increasingly between eliminating greenhouse gas emissions or extinguishing life. The op-ed by Greenpeace’s Keith Stewart tepidly writes of decades to accomplish a transition to a green energy system. Right now, how about eliminating high emitting activities that are not essential to life, like most international aviation and shipping, most cement/steel construction, and the largest single emitter — the military?

Judith Deutsch, Toronto

It was great to see Councillor Doug Ford getting his feet wet doing almost five hours of volunteer traffic control at a blocked up Etobicoke intersection with dead traffic signals. I would hope he now has some appreciation for those citizens who step forward when circumstances demand such Good Samaritan action.

He might try to introduce a motion in city council that would request the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to legally recognize such action. The Highway Traffic Act should include a regulation stating that motorists coming up to an intersection with traffic signals not functioning but is being controlled by police or a citizen must obey the commands of the person controlling the traffic flow. Citizens would have to be wearing a safety vest and be using a flashlight at night.

Citizens who would see themselves in that role would have a bright safety vest and flashlight in their cars ready for such a purpose. Under those circumstances, the city would be wise to train a recognized group of citizens as a corps of volunteer traffic wardens. I think Councillor Ford would agree. He now knows the feeling and understands the importance of having volunteer citizens involved.

Joe Cusimano, Toronto

I would like to sincerely thank the lovely young couple in the White SUV who gave me a lift on Bay St. the night of the flooding. After spending an hour in the rain, on and off shuttles, trying to reach my hotel, I decided to stick out my thumb, and after 15 minutes of cars driving by, they stopped for me. They are my angels.

On the other hand, I would like to give a big thumbs-down to the taxi driver who would not take me because I was not going far enough — shameful. To the TTC, the bus driver on southbound Yonge St. was wonderful and did a great job in spite of the circumstances.

Nancy Fish, Newmarket

It seems that every time we have a flood or a storm our “governing authorities” do nothing to forewarn us and then when disaster strikes they still do nothing to help the residents and businesses. This is just like the time we got that freak storm this winter — other government authorities like that of Massachusetts in the U.S. were asking business/schools etc. to remain closed and warning people to stay indoors days in advance. In Toronto the “authorities” turned a shut eye that resulted in so many accidents and people getting abandoned.

My question is why are our “governing authorities” slacking in their duty to safe-keep the residents? This is certainly not the first time it’s poured rain on us here! Why didn’t get a warning from the Weather Network or the city or province?

Here is another interesting question. When everything is flooded, and there are so many areas without power and the transit system is shut down, why is the city or province not asking schools/businesses to stay closed (instead of dragging thousands of people to “work” only to have them get abandoned!)?

G.A. Soehner, Hamilton

There’s nothing like a lot of water on the road to bring out the worst in impetuous drivers. It would be interesting to know how many of the vehicles stuck in deep water at rail or road underpasses or on Bayview or the DVP had been genuinely and unavoidably trapped or whether they had recklessly charged into mini-lakes in the foolish hope they could get through — without having to call Toronto Fire.

I imagine these are the same drivers who barge blindly and at highway speeds into sudden fog banks, consequences be damned.

Geoff Rytell, Toronto

What a week or two it has been. First the Alberta floods; then the Lac-Magentic train derailment and finally the Toronto floods; not to mention the Asiana air crash in San Francisco. Something or the other is always happening across the globe.

Some are acts of God, some are human errors; whatever the case may be, loss of life and mass displacements of property are affecting citizens around the world. One should not forget thousands of malnourished people around us; deaths by this disease are uncountable; bravo to those philanthropists and those charitable organizations and not forgetting the volunteers who rush to ease the suffering of those affected by this untold hardships.

As a Canadian of Indo-African Origin, I would like to send my and my family’s sympathies to all engulfed by these calamities; as a practising Muslim I am obliged, on the advent of the Holy Month of Ramadhan (fasting month) to remember all in need of our prayers and to be practical in offering monitory and other assistance as required.

To the bereaved and displaced people, our unflinching support, our prayers and our offer of assistance where requested is assured.

May God lessen the suffering of His creation and may Peace, Harmony and Brotherhood prevail in the world. Amen.

Raza Kara, Richmond Hill

The other night I watched on TV the terrified and tired commuters from the stranded GO train near Pottery Road being transported to safety by the Toronto Police Marine Unit. What perplexed me are the tiny dingy boats used, that usually rescue one or two individuals who occasionally fall off the Harbourfront pier or the Scarborough bluffs — and definitely not something for the almost 1,000 stranded passengers. No doubt, it took more than eight hours to bring them all to safety in those lofty dingy boats.

We are surrounded by large bodies of water. Is there a contingency plan for this city of nearly 3 million people, where we have sufficient and appropriate tools to be used in emergencies, and in this case reasonably large watercrafts?

Nimalan Veerasingham, Toronto

During the flood disaster, the mayor should have been front and centre to encourage those who were affected by the terrible weather. Where was he? He should take example from the Calgary mayor on how to react to a disaster.

Carole Wilson, Toronto

So which is it? Was Toronto’s record rainfall related to climate change or not? First you quote a Harper government climatologist saying it wasn’t due to climate change but “may” be a preview. Then you quote the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, representing hundreds of international climate scientists, saying short, powerful rains “will” intensify. Is this balanced reporting?

It is time to stop giving space to the climate change deniers. Let’s get on with the big but doable job of replacing dangerous fossil fuels with safer, carbon-free energy.

Doug Pritchard, Toronto

I would like to comment on how poorly prepared Toronto is to Mother Nature.

First off, an early warning system should be in place to prepare people. Understandably the downpour was too sudden this time but I still feel that there should still be a warning system in place and the police, firemen, etc. should be on high alert.

It is also well known that the southern tip of the DVP is prone to flooding yet nothing was done to try and prevent this such as sand bags, an improved drainage system, machines to extract water back into the river or the lake. The DVP was closed too late to the point that cars were forced to somehow make a U-turn and exit on the Bayview ramp.

I personally was considering walking back home and leaving my car facing the opposite direction in the southbound DVP. I was very surprised to see how flooded the 427 and 401 were considering that there should be advanced drainage systems in place. Haven’t we learned anything from the terrible flooding in Calgary? I guess not.

I felt that more should have been done earlier to prevent the flooding in certain areas that are known to flood. I notice that even on light rainy days there are huge puddles on the DVP to the point that they are being splashed onto the opposite traffic which can easily cause accidents.

Why hasn’t the MOT considered this during their annual spring clean up? We are one of the largest cities in North America with one of the poorest disaster preparation and prevention plans. In addition, I would like to add the city with one of the poorest transportation systems as well. My thoughts.

Gajan Krishna, Toronto

While the weather eggheads were hotly debating the pros and cons of global warming, global wetting caught Calgary and Toronto by surprise.

William Bedford, Toronto

I was watching the news on CP24 about many parts of GTA flooding due to a rain of 77 mm in two hours in the afternoon. As a water resources engineer who has done flood studies for urban areas in many countries such as Canada, the U.S., Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, I know that 77 mm in two hours is not a very high intensity rain for an urban watersheds of a few square kilometers, and expected such a flooding to subside in a few hours.

Usually a two-hour heavy rain should be cleared away from an urban catchment with well-designed flood drains in another two hours or so. (Note: for storm comparisons we compare the intensities on a one in say 10 years or frequency of 0.1 or similar. Saying that this rain is more than the monthly rain of July has no significance as a measure of storm, though it definitely impresses the general public.)

I was surprised to find that even after midnight (more than seven hours after rains ceased) there were rescue operations going on to get passengers stranded in a Go train to safety, which the TV showed to be submerged to above the train floor level. The rescue operations are being done by boats travelling in a stagnant reservoir of water. Stagnant water means there is no outlet for the water to go! Where is the drainage?

Obviously the floodwaters are not draining out and it is important that the city inspects for blocked outlet drains or canals. If there are no such blockages, then they should re-study the drainage system designs and see if the drains are adequate for a one in five-year flood or to the city standards. My estimate is that this storm was only of an intensity of much less than one in five years for the specific catchment.

Parts of Toronto are under water. The subway is down. Thousands of residents are without power. And where is our mayor, Rob Ford?

@reporterdonpeat: Just spoke to Mayor Rob Ford, power is still out at his house. He’s in the SUV with his kids trying to stay cool.

Ah, yes, the stalwart leader of our “world class city.” Reacting to an extreme weather event by unnecessarily pumping some more carbon into the atmosphere. God forbid his worship should break a sweat or endure any discomfort.

Keep idling that SUV, Rob. The city and the climate can wait until you are feeling up to the task of being the elected leader of Canada’s largest city.

You utterly embarrass me, Rob. You represent everything that is wrong with our electoral process and our response to the existential threat of climate change. You fail in your elected role on every level possible.

Kevin Farmer, Toronto

In view of the recent horrid weather that we have experienced in the GTA, I wonder if it would be possible to have Naheed Nenshi, Calgary’s mayor, to arrange a visit here for a few days.

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